Dora Young Knot

I was recently pleased to report the reprinting at long last of the Dora Young book, "All New Knotless Tatting Designs." Included also was the addition of her biography as written by Heidi Nakayama. http://tattingshuttles.weebly.com/ http://tattingshuttles.blogspot.com/ http://tattingshuttles.weebly.com/dora-young.html

You will remember mention of the "Dora Young Knot", the bridging or split chain technique. This is the basic concept.

These directions for creating a split chain cover the following situation: You have been tatting a chain which was joined somewhere to the left and you have continued tatting to the right up to the mid point of the chain. In this position the right side of the chain in progress is up or towards you. The chain would have finished and been anchored somewhere to the right if completed in the traditional manner.

Instead you are going to measure out a length of thread just long enough to complete the chain, attach it to the right and wrap thread over the bare shuttle thread back towards the left to the last ds made on the chain and then climb out of the round with a mock picot and either a split ring or a chain.

Nota Bene: If the wrong side of the work is towards you or the chain is headed to the right and needs to be anchored on the left, these directions must be modified by starting the stitch/wrap on the opposite side as given below.

The most important point of this technique is that it should be done slowly. The thread is wrapped around the anchored shuttle thread in two stages both of which must be done loosely and then the two halves of the stitch slowly tightened one after the other. Do not tighten the first part of the stitch before the second part is done.

And the same principle and technique is used to create the single shuttle split ring. Dora's diagrams.

In 2007 this was on the list of most wanted tatting books: http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2007/toptentatbooks.html

Most sought for Tatting Books: 1. The Complete Book of Tatting Rebecca Jones 2. The works of Mary Konior (especially "Tatting with Visual Patterns") 3. The works of Judi Banashek (Impeccable Tatting, Adv.Tatting Techniques) 4. The works of Elgiva Nicholls 5. The works of Mlle. Riego 6. The works of Anne Orr 7. The works of Helma Siepman 8. A variety of Japanese Tatting Books various designers during the two last decades 9. The patterns of the Workbasket magazine 60+ years in pub. 10. The wonderful vintage "10-cent" books Coats & Clark, Lily, The Star Books, The American Thread Company, The Spool Cotton Company etc. 11. Tied Christmas Angels and other patterns Mona (Monica) Hahn The works of the online tatting class, 1999-present The Illustrated Dictionary of Tatting Judith Connors

12. Tied Dover pubs such as those edited by Rita Weiss, Julia Sanders, Mary Carol Waldrep etc. The works of Rosemary Peel Mini-Tats Patty Duff Tatting Patterns Lyn Morton Tatting Patterns & Design Blomqvist & Persson Tatting Collage Lindsay Rodgers The works of the Modern Priscilla, Priscilla 1,2, and 3 The works of Norma Benporath The works of Angeline Crichlow The works of Ruth Scharf (OCCHI, OCCHI 2 : Neue Blaetter)

13. Tied All New Knotless Tatting Dora Young The needle tatting books of Barbara Foster Tatting with Tatsy Carol Winandy

14. Tied The works of Emmy Liebert The works of the Ring of Tatters esp ROT's Tatting 2000 Beanile Nina Libin Tatting To de Haan van Beek Occhi Hilda Schleip Forget Knot Alaska Dianna Stevens Tatted Ornaments Terry McGuffin Tatting: A New Look at the Old Art of Making Lace Lael Morgan Tatting, The contemporary art of knotting with a shuttle Rhoda Auld

15. Tied Tatting for the Beginner Nettie Lou Stafford Shipp A Tatter's Workbook Anon. The works of Ruth Perry The works of Pam Palmer Tatting with Friends G. Seitz, ed.